Elden Ring: $80 key-card preorders
Amazon listings in the U.S. now show pre-orders for Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Switch 2 priced at $80 — but the release is a game-key card, not a full cartridge, and the port still has no confirmed release date. That combination — a premium price, digital key format, and no ship date — is already raising questions about physical-media expectations for Switch 2 owners. (nintendolife.com) (gamesradar.com)
Amazon in the United States has opened preorders for Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Nintendo Switch 2 at $79.99, and the listing labels it a “game-key card” instead of a standard cartridge. The same Amazon page still shows “Release date is currently unavailable,” so buyers can reserve it without a firm ship date. (amazon.com) A game-key card is Nintendo’s new halfway format for Switch 2 physical games. Nintendo says the card does not contain the full game data, and the first use requires an internet download plus enough storage on the console or a microSD Express card. (en-americas-support.nintendo.com) That means this is not the old “put in the cartridge and play” model people usually associate with boxed console games. Nintendo’s support pages say a regular game card starts immediately, while a game-key card only stores the key needed to launch software after the download is installed. (support.nintendo.com) The price is what turned a niche packaging detail into a bigger argument. Nintendo Life spotted the Amazon listing and noted that $79.99 sits at the top end of Switch 2 software pricing, which is a jarring number for a release that still depends on a download. (nintendolife.com) Bandai Namco is not selling the original 2022 game by itself here. Tarnished Edition bundles the base Elden Ring, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion released in June 2024, four new armor sets, and new appearance options for Torrent, the spectral horse you ride through the game. (fromsoftware.jp) (bandainamcoent.com) That bundle helps explain why the price is above the old $59.99 launch price Elden Ring had on PlayStation and Xbox in 2022. It does not answer the separate complaint from collectors, because the argument is less about content and more about paying premium-boxed-game money for a box that works like a download voucher with extra steps. (bandainamcoent.com) (en-americas-support.nintendo.com) The date confusion adds another wrinkle. FromSoftware’s April 2, 2025 announcement said the Switch 2 version was planned for 2025, but Nintendo’s current regional game pages now list it for 2026, and Amazon still does not show a specific day. (fromsoftware.jp) (nintendo.com) (amazon.com) Nintendo has also made clear that game-key cards are not a one-off exception for one oversized role-playing game. Its official Switch 2 support materials describe them as a standard format the system supports alongside normal game cards, which means buyers now have to check the package before assuming “physical” means the whole game is on the card. (en-americas-support.nintendo.com) So the Elden Ring preorder is really three separate signals stacked together: an $80 price, a physical box without the full game on the media, and a preorder page without a confirmed release date. Any one of those would draw comments on its own; all three on one of the biggest third-party Switch 2 ports is why this listing is getting so much attention. (amazon.com) (nintendolife.com)
